"Leading Ideas: What Churches Do Young Adults Attend? | Building Multicultural Relationships" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership at The Wesleyan Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C., United States for Wednesday, August 10, 2016

From the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary "Leading Ideas: What Churches Do Young Adults Attend? | Building Multicultural Relationships" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership at The Wesleyan Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C., United States for Wednesday, August 10, 2016

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Wednesday, August 10, 2016

What Churches Do Young Adults Attend?Lovett Weems examines the findings of a new report on engaging young adults and shares clues about the types of churches those ages 18-34 are most likely to attend. Perhaps the most important finding of the research is that the characteristics of churches with thriving young adult engagement are virtually the same factors that contribute to overall vitality and growth in a congregation.
Read more.
What Churches Do Young Adults Attend? by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lovett Weems examines the findings of a new report on engaging young adults and shares clues about the types of churches those ages 18–34 are most likely to attend. Perhaps the most important finding of the research is that the characteristics of churches with thriving young adult engagement are virtually the same factors that contribute to overall vitality and growth in a congregation.
What are the characteristics of congregations that attract young adults? A new report, Engaging Young Adults, by Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, draws on the American Congregations 2015 survey by Faith Communities Today. This research provides important clues about the types of churches young adults (18 to 34 years of age) are likely to attend today.
Who Are the Young Adult Attendees?
Young adults are present (at least one) in most congregations, though usually not in great numbers. One of the surprising findings of the research is that, overall, 70 percent of young adult participants are related by family to someone else in the congregation. While this is probably not the case for larger and growing young adult ministries, it is a good reminder that churches might begin their young adult efforts by looking close to home.
Churches wishing to reach young adults must have a passion and deliberate strategy for reaching young adults. But these efforts will not be successful if the church as a whole is not thriving. The churches that young adults are most attending are those that are appealing to others as well.
Young adults today marry much later than in the past. Of those ages 18-24, only nine percent were married in 2010, compared to 45 percent in 1960. Among those 25-34 years of age, 44 percent were married in 2010, compared to 82 percent in 1960. Young adults attending church tend to be married in disproportionate numbers, in that 57 percent are married. This is particularly true in new suburbs. However, the report makes clear that demography is critical to understanding young adult patterns since thriving young adult congregations in downtown urban areas or near universities often reach primarily single young adults.
Where Young Adults Attend
There are several general things we know about where young adults worship in greater numbers than is typical for most congregations. For example, the study considers a congregation with 15 percent participation by young adults as a “critical mass” church. Only one-third of congregations fit this standard. Such churches tend to be located in the South and West, often in downtown areas, newer suburbs, or larger cities, and less likely to be located in rural or older suburban areas.
Young adults are more likely to attend churches with an average worship attendance of 100 or more rather than smaller churches. This is an important finding for many denominations in which the number of churches with 100 or more in worship has been declining for almost four decades. While one can assume that larger churches do better because they have more financial resources, it is important to note that financial resources alone is not a significant variable compared to other factors reported previously. Money helps, but it is not the primary reason for success or failure in reaching young adults.
As one would expect, young adults tend to be found in churches located where there is the greatest growth of the young adult population. Yet, once again, a growing population of young adults is only moderately related to success in reaching young adults. For example, of churches located where there is the greatest growth in young adult population, fewer than 30 percent reached a critical mass of young adults.
Thriving Congregations
Perhaps the most important finding of this research is that the characteristics of churches with thriving young adult engagement are virtually the same as any thriving congregation. While it is clear that churches wishing to reach young adults must have a passion, strategy, leadership, and dedicated time focused on young adults (See “Lessons from Churches that Reach Young Adults,” Leading Ideas, August 3, 2016), it appears that a church could have all these things and still not be successful in reaching young adults if the church as a whole was not thriving. The churches that young adults are most attending are those that are appealing to others as well. Notice these ways in which the churches young adults attend are similar to thriving churches in general:

• Better at incorporating newcomers into the congregation
• More spiritually vital and alive
• More caring and supportive of members
• More willing to meet new challenges
• More social justice oriented
• Different from other congregations in their community

Worship
In churches where increasing numbers of young adults attend, worship is central and often seen as innovative in some ways. Young adults give worship high marks in the churches they choose to attend. Coupled with the quality of the worship is greater emphasis on reaching others through worship, incorporating technology, and often modeling diversity.
Participation beyond Worship
While worship is the primary way young adults participate in church, half of them engage in activities beyond worship. Again, this is a pattern that matches members of thriving congregations as a whole. This tends to point to a congregation with a strong mission that elicits passion and participation by all members well beyond the worship service. Young adults tend to worship where there are groups specifically designed for young adult fellowship. Community service also ranks high for young adult participation.
Conclusion
Young adults are far more present in congregations than some might expect, but the decision to attend church for young adults is a deliberate choice that in many ways is counter cultural, certainly among many of their peers. Churches that try to understand and respond to this large and talented cohort can be blessed by them as well as being a blessing in their lives.
The full report is available in a free pdf version at http://www.faithcommunitiestoday.org/sites/default/files/Engaging-Young-Adults-Report.pdf.
Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, author of Engaging Young Adults, is with the Center for Analytics, Research, and Data of the United Church of Christ.
Related Resources:

• Lessons from Churches that Reach Young Adults by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
• Leading Ideas to Reach Young Adults by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
• The New Welcome Video Tool Kit
• Millennials Reach New Disciples Reaching Younger People

About Author
Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., is director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership.

Building Multicultural Relationships Mark DeYmaz and Bob Whitesel say that the church must reposition itself to maintain credibility in an increasingly diverse community. They stress the importance of "getting outside your bubble" to connect with the diversity present in your sphere of influence. And, because structural change begins at a personal level, leaders must invest in meaningful multicultural relationships.
Read more.
Building Multicultural Relationships by Mark DeYmaz And Bob Whitesel
Mark DeYmaz and Bob Whitesel say that the church must reposition itself to maintain credibility in an increasingly diverse community. They stress the importance of “getting outside your bubble” to connect with the diversity present in your sphere of influence. And, because structural change begins at a personal level, leaders must invest in meaningful multicultural relationships.
According to the latest research, churches today are ten times more segregated than the neighborhoods in which they exist, and twenty times more segregated than nearby public schools. To our collective shame, eleven o’clock on Sunday morning remains the most segregated hour of the week. Thus the hope and benefit of reconciliation remains elusive; for it cannot be fully realized in our society until we first deal with systemic segregation in the local church. To advance a credible witness, we must remix the church.
Fundamentally, reconciliation cannot be addressed at a structural level until it has been embraced at a personal level, within your own heart. Only then will you be motivated and excited to pursue this biblical calling with others of a different ethnic or economic background.
We must do more than think about reconciliation to transition a church to living color. Change is never easy, but to establish a ministry of reconciliation you’ll need to expand your sphere of influence and reposition the church for future credibility in an increasingly diverse community.
Get Outside Your Bubble
Share a meal. Invite someone of a different ethnic or economic background to share a meal with you, to your home for a family function, or to attend an event highlighting his or her culture.
Spend an hour at Wal-Mart. Write down your perception of the racial diversity, or lack thereof, in close proximity to your church. Then go spend an hour sitting just inside the nearest Wal-Mart to see if the diversity you witness there matches your perception.
Walk the halls of your church. Walk into the nursery, children’s ministry classrooms, or halls in your church. Observe the dolls in the cribs or other toys depicting people. Look at the pictures of Jesus on the walls. Do such things communicate to diverse others a love for all people or just one kind of person? Do they communicate that everyone is welcome, or only certain ones?
Visit local schools. The local school system(s) from which your congregants are drawn is one of the easiest and most reliable sources of demographic insight. You will often find that the school system is comprised of students with dozens of birth languages. Many school systems can provide you with demographic forecast tools. This will help you grasp the current and emerging cultures in your sphere of influence.
Follow the bread crumbs. At any given time, various people groups within a city are putting on one event or another. The city itself is likely hosting events to bring diverse people together. Research these events, and contact organizers to see how you and your church can volunteer, sponsor, or rent a booth. By showing an interest in diverse people of the city and their passions, you will soon develop new friends and a reputation of inclusion. Follow the relational bread crumbs, and a whole new world of diverse relationships and unique possibilities will open up for you.
Invest in Cross-Cultural Friendships
Fundamentally, reconciliation cannot be addressed at a structural level until it has been embraced at a personal level, within your own heart. Only then will you be motivated and excited to pursue this biblical calling with others of a different ethnic or economic background. With this in mind, consider the following questions:
With whom are you now forging friendships of genuine transparency and trust?
To whom can you go to begin a conversation and, more important, to listen?
With which diverse friends can you mark culturally historical moments, attend expressive activities and artistic events, or celebrate family traditions?
Multicultural friendships can be easy to initiate but harder to maintain for a variety of reasons. That said, they are nothing to fear. Rather, they are something many people of varying ethnic heritage genuinely want to develop.
Your willingness to initiate and ultimately develop multicultural friendships and relationships is critical to your pursuit and acquisition of cross-cultural competence. You will need both to effectively remix your church and lead it in the years ahead.
This article is adapted from reMIX: Transitioning Your Church to Living Color (Abingdon Press, 2016) by Mark DeYmaz and Bob Whitesel and used by permission. The book is available through Cokesbury orAmazon.
Related Resources:

• Five Keys to Becoming a More Inclusive Community by Mark DeYmaz and Bob Whitesel
• Church as an Uncommon Community by Henry G. Brinton
• Multicultural Fluency and the Discipline of Dialogue by Curtiss Paul DeYoung
• Community Outreach Diversity Reach New Disciples

About Author

Mark DeYmaz
Mark DeYmaz is a recognized leader in the multiethnic church movement. He is the founding pastor of the Mosaic Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. His books includere:Mix: Transitioning Your Church to Living Color (Abingdon, 2016) and Building a Healthy Multiethnic Church (Jossey-Bass) 2007.

Bob Whitesel
Bob Whitesel is the founding professor of Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University. He is the author of twelve books helping churches bring about healthy change including re:MIX: Transitioning Your Church to Living Color (Abingdon Press, 2016) with Mark DeYmaz.

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The Right Question:
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Mike Slaughter, in his book The Christian Wallet: Spending, Giving, and Living with a Conscience, proposes three right questions to ask each time we prepare to spend money:
Why am I spending?
Whose money is it that I am spending?
What are God's priorities in my spending? Want more Right Questions? Read Right Questions for Church Leaders.

Learn to Reach Younger Generations with "The New Welcome"
Learn concepts and strategies to welcome and respond to your first-time and repeat visitors, reach younger generations, expand your church's entry points, and get new people involved. The New Welcome Video Tool Kit helps you open your church to the transformative presence of new people - welcoming newcomers by acknowledging the changing ways that people enter into the life of churches. Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
Quotable Leadership:
Without question, the most abundant, least expensive, most underutilized, and most constantly abused resource in the world is human ingenuity.[Dee Hock]

Learn How to Engage Young Adults -- Free Video
Engaging young adults in church, historically a challenge, is even more difficult today. So what should your congregation do? And not do? This brief video shares clues from a Faith Communities Today report on improving ministry with younger people.Watch Engaging Young Adults: Lessons for Churches Seeking to Reach Young Adults now.
Editors: Dr. Ann A. Michel and Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
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